RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) – Governor Glen Youngkin announced on Wednesday a Virginia and USDA block grant program designed to aid farmers and forestland owners who sustained damage due to Hurricane Helene.
Helene struck Virginia during September 2024, causing significant damages to people and property alike. An estimated 20 inches of now hit the southeastern part of Virginia and eastern North Carolina.
The block grant program was authorized by the American Relief Act, 2025 (HR 10545 – 118th) and funding is expected to provide direct payment to eligible producers once federal funding is allocated to the state and once a state workplan is approved by USDA.
“Hurricane Helene left a lasting impact on Virginia’s agricultural and forestry communities, especially in Southwest and Southside, damaging infrastructure, destroying crops, and threatening the livelihoods of families, farms, and forestry operations across the region,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“This new recovery block grant program ensures that Virginians who haven’t qualified for other disaster relief finally have access to targeted support.”
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is working to ensure the application is available for 27 different Virginia localities, with the online portal accessible here.
Farmers and forestland operators interested in applying should have the following documentation:
- W-9 Form
- Federal Tax ID information for all owners, shareholders, or beneficiaries
- Tax Parcel ID
- Parcel Map
- Farm Service Agency (FSA) Farm Number
- FSA 578 Form
- Copy of Schedule F or other tax documentation demonstrating farming income
- Photographic evidence of damage or destruction to greenhouses, barns, and packing houses, silos, and other farm infrastructure that had a crop or livestock present in the structure within 12 months prior to the weather event
- Photographic evidence of damage or destruction to commercial aquaculture infrastructure
- Photographic evidence of damage or destruction to farm roads, bridges or culverts that provide direct access to a crop production area or livestock production area that was in production within 12 months of the weather event
- Documentation or evidence of harvested crops that were destroyed or crops that remained unharvested due to a loss of market (i.e. unsold crop that were destroyed because the market became unavailable because of the weather event)
- Documentation of ownership of private timberland, with a minimum of 10 contiguous acres, which sustained moderate, severe or very severe damage due to the storm
- Insurance adjustment reports and / or proof of insurance payments related to farm infrastructure losses
- Invoices demonstrating replacement costs for certain farm infrastructure or third-party vendor estimates for repair or replacement costs
- Documentation of application to, or payment received from, any other USDA indemnity or recovery program as a result of Hurricane Helene
- Documentation of salvage payments received, or deductions taken on taxes from agricultural or timer damage, loss or timber casualty